Business Notes HUNTING

It was an unexpected victory for business interests against the forces of environmentalism. The Canadian government announced last week that it would allow the resumption of coastal seal hunting from ships north of Newfoundland. The annual spring hunt was abandoned in 1983 after environmentalists, horrified that hunters commonly clubbed seal pups to death for their prized white fur, persuaded the European Community to ban the importation of whitecoat pelts. The U.S. had barred them a decade earlier.

Canada authorized the new hunt to aid the struggling economy of Newfoundland, where unemployment is now 18%. But the prey will be limited to adult seals, which must be shot instead of clubbed. Even so, animal-rights activists are mulling a worldwide boycott of Canadian marine products.